Shortly before he reached there, the U.S. frigate Philadelphia, commanded by Captain Bainbridge, had gone upon a reef just outside the harbor of Tripoli and had been surrounded and captured, with all her crew, by the Tripolitan gunboats.  The Tripolitans got her off the rocks, towed her into the harbor, and anchored her close under the guns of their forts.  They also strengthened her batteries, and prepared her for a cruise, which could not but have been disastrous to our shipping.  It was evident that she must be destroyed before she got out of the harbor, and Stephen Decatur volunteered to lead a party into the harbor on this desperate mission.  Commodore Preble hesitated to accept Decatur’s offer, for he knew how greatly against success the odds were, but finally, in January, 1804, he told him to go ahead.

A small vessel known as a ketch had recently been captured from the Tripolitans, and Decatur selected this in which to make the venture.  He took seventy men from his own vessel, and, on the night of February 15, sailed boldly into the harbor of Tripoli.  Let us pause for a minute to consider the odds against him.  First there was the Philadelphia with her forty guns double-shotted and ready to fire; half a gunshot away was the Bashaw’s castle, the mole and crown batteries, while within range were ten other batteries, mounting, all told, a hundred and fifteen guns.  Between the Philadelphia and the shore lay a number of Tripolitan cruisers, galleys and gunboats.  Into this hornet’s nest, Decatur steered his little vessel of sixty tons, carrying four small guns, and having a crew of only seventy men.

The Tripolitans saw the vessel entering the harbor, but supposed it to be one of their own until it was alongside the Philadelphia.  Then there was a cry of “Americanos!” and a rush to quarters, but it was too late, for Decatur and his men swarmed up the side and over the rail of the Philadelphia, and charged the dismayed and panic-stricken Tripolitans.  There was a short and desperate struggle, and five minutes later, the ship was cleared of the enemy.

It was manifestly impossible to get the Philadelphia out of the harbor, so Decatur gave the order to burn her.  Combustibles had been prepared in advance, and in a moment, flames began to break out in all parts of the ship.  Then the order was given to return to the ketch, the cable was cut, the sweeps got out, and the ketch drew rapidly away from the burning vessel.  The sounds of the melee had awakened the troops on shore, and, as the harbor was lighted by the flames from the Philadelphia, the shore batteries opened upon the little vessel, but without doing her any serious damage, and Decatur got safely out of the harbor and back to the fleet without losing a man.